Holiday season is around the corner and traditionally it is a time for celebration and reconnection with family and friends.

It is also a time for some food indulgence, with Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year occurring in close succession. In fact, most weight gain during the year is observed during the holiday seasons. As we use to say in Brazil, the problem is not what you eat between the New Year's eve and the Christmas, but what you eat between the Christmas and New Year's eve ;-)

In fact I found several researches confirming the observation that, in general, people  gain 500% more weight per week during the holiday compared to non-holiday weeks (1). 

The ideal formula would be to control somehow the calories intake. But let’s be honest, nobody wants to do that,  especially during a time of full of calorie-dense dishes of deliciousness and pressure from your grandma to have that second slice of cake (because you always look too skinny to her)!

But let's not lose hope! There is a very good solution to minimize the fat gain during these days! As per can be confirmed by a research published by the International Journal of Exercise Science (2), the tip is simple:

OVER-EAT PROTEIN

Since you’re going to feast on food anyway, focus your overeating on protein-rich dishes. Not only does this have the greatest likelihood of limit fat gain during overeating itself, but protein food are well-known for the satiating properties that might help reducing overeating to begin with.

As a bonus, and that requires a bit more self- control, if you are looking to manage blood sugar levels, eating protein before starchy carbohydrates has been proven, according to researches) to reduce post-meal blood glucose and insulin responses. (3)

So, that's not that hard at all! And Gracie Essentials has a VERY good option for you when talking about protein. You know, our delicious Gracie Whey Protein with Collagen Peptides, Acai or Cocoa flavoured. You choose!

Happy Holidays!

Rilion Gracie

(1) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9697946/ 

(2) https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/ijes/vol10/iss8/16/ 

(3) http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/27/9/2266.full